David O. McKay Photo Album - Mission Call to Scotland

After completing his studies in the spring of 1897, he was offered a teaching position in Salt Lake County. He was eager to begin earning money so his younger brothers and sisters could go to school. He then received a letter containing a mission call to the British Mission. To accept this call was a difficult decision for David O. McKay. The day before he left on his mission his journal entry of Thursday, 5 August 1897 states: "The saddest morning ever spent in Huntsville or anywhere else! At eleven o'clock, bid my home, dear ones, relatives, & friends 'good-bye.' Sobbed. . . ."

On his mission, an experience that he had in Stirling, Scotland, would give him the motto that would guide his life. After he and his companion returned from viewing Stirling Castle, they passed a building where the stone above the door had a carved inscription: "Whate'er thou art, act well thy part." This message struck David O. McKay forcefully, and he decided to devote himself completely to always doing his part.